Mind, Motion & Matter

Running, Essentially . . .

Category Archives: Culture


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Staying awake is hard to do – Day 2

Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 6:55 a.m. - Western Boardwalk

Rising at 4:30 a.m. before my alarm, did not bode well for an evening at the theatre. The extra time did however, enable me to feel quite prepared and on top of my day. I could feel the effect of last night’s hard workout in my legs during my easy 7 miler to the lake.

The work day whizzed by and at the end of the work day everyone but I seemed to have been alerted to the big storm. I did take a walk at lunch but the sky while overcast was not broadcasting a storm. A colleague kindly offered to drop me off at the India Rice Factory.

The route there is very similar to my running route home. It was an eye opener to be stuck in the heavy stop and start traffic down Yonge and Avenue road and motion sickness kicked in. I found myself savouring the freedom of my runs and I slowly felt myself turning green. The weird affliction of motion sickness in my case, seems to be exacerbated by an empty stomach. I had lunch early and realized that I was hungry, very hungry.

I arrived at my destination early and immediately ordered corn fritters and a mango lassi.  The mango lassi was superb and just the thing for the fading me. My only prior visit to the India Rice Factory was 25 years ago when I lived on Howland avenue.  The restaurant was quiet with relaxing lighting and I began to feel better. The butter chicken I ordered was excellent.

We arrived at the Tarragon Theatre with 10 minutes to go, just enough time for 2 ounces of coffee.  A shadow of the double or triple espresso caffeine intervention I sensed I needed.  I began to feel apprehensive about my ability to stay awake for 85 minutes of a monologue. A well-founded fear it was, as I was nodding off for at least half the play. Note to self, do not go to the theatre during a big week of training.

My friend was quite keen on the play. My review, not engaging enough to keep a early-rising-big-mileage-marathoner awake. My apologies to the actress, who I felt certain was looking right at me during the performance of  The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion.

Then there was the storm to contend with.  Fortunately I was wearing a highly functional Sierra Designs raincoat and had an umbrella and had great luck with the arrival of the Dupont and Ossington buses.  So home safely, no time to blog and straight to bed.

Sweet dreams to me!

p.s.  Note to self, remember to pack Starbuck’s canned double espresso drink as an emergency caffeine fix. This used to be a staple item, when I was taking evening courses.


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Forgetting is good for the soul, and the long run too

21 mile route - November 6, 2010

I’ve had a great month of training, with very solid long runs, of 19, 18.5, 21 last week and finally, 21 this week. I’m due for an easy week and will be heading off to New York state next weekend for an overnight getaway with my only sister, and one of four, sisters in-law. Both run, and due to the demands of parenthood, have treadmills. My sister has 4 kids age, 8, 6, 4 & 2 and my sister-in-law is mother to an 12, 9 & 6 year old. In addition to running, my sister, who is an excellent hockey player, plays a couple of times a week.

Queen Street, still sleeping

Early in the run I made a pit stop at Starbuck’s and recognizing the barista, formerly at our neighbourhood location, chatted briefly about running. I asked if I could take his photo for my blog however he said there are protocols in place regarding photos of staff. I quickly scribbled down my blog address for him.

Then east on Queen street, north on Spadina and over to R’s, where B & D were also waiting. We ran over to J’s and then an uphill trek up Russell Hill Road, and through Forest Hill to the beltline.

I felt the need to take charge of our route, as it is very hard to stay focused without a route to visualize.  Because of this, a few minor insults were bandied about, the way guys will do but everyone soldiered on, in spite of the more-challenging-than-usual-route. I have four younger brothers and I’m sure there’s a kind of familiarity and comfort in being the only female in our running group. A little sister, for which I prayed constantly, only arrived when I was 11 years old, and my role was more like that of a second mother.

I parted company from B and R at St. George and Dupont and ran south to the Lakeshore.  Once I hit the lakeshore I got a bit distracted with with the sights and picture taking on this chilly but fresh and sunny day.

Art on the run, outdoor photo exhibit, Harbourfront

I weave through the outdoor photo gallery on York Quay, the subjects are always Canadian content and enviroment and landscape related.   Then east to the Music Garden where a large team of teens were involved in dismantling the rigging for two tall ships.  Three miles to go, seems less so, when it is a well-worn route.

4 miles to go, time for a photo

Getting ready for winter?

On the home stretch I muse on mental strategies for marathoners.  While running a marathon it is helpful mentally, to practise a kind of forgetfulness and forget how far you have run, and try and relax as though you are out for a short run.  A useful life skill as well, the ability to willfully forget is closely tied to the ability to forgive and start anew.  So I imagine this as one  of my easy morning runs, and the end of my 21 miler does not feel quite as taxing.  As I run through the apple orchard near Ossington-Old Orchard School, Renee Fleming is on my IPod singing Leonard Cohen’s  Hallelujah.   I’m almost home, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

To hear Renee sing CLICK HERE

There’s a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Leonard Cohen

Lake Ontario moment, November 6, 2010 10:30 a.m.


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Last day of work

Moving Day

I set out for my pre-work run later than usual as I only had to log a few hours today, my last day of work at my place of employment for the past two years.  While running I listened to my Dave Allen, “Making It All Work ” book and then some quiet music, Keith Jarrett’s “The Melody at Night With You”, in order to meditate a little on the upcoming changes.  My husband and I saw Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette perform at the Four Seasons Centre for the Jazz Festival earlier this summer.  The performance was superb, consumately emotional and priceless!  It had been 25 years since I had seen this same trio perform and seeing them again, has enlivened my enjoyment of their music.

I start my new job on September 7th.  This is the same day that my son starts his internship at Research in Motion.  He is a software engineering specialist in U of T’s Computer Science program.  His salary as a student intern will exceed what I was earning at my former workplace.

Earlier in the week my husband helped me cart home the enormous amount of stuff, that I had let accumulate at work.  Included in this was a lot of running gear, my foot masager, oodles of personal care products, lots of framed photos, numerous hand-crafted ceramic gifts given to all staff from our creative and generous information resources coordinator and a few books including a copy of “Japanese Death Poems”, “Jack Daniels Running Formula”, “Beloved, Henri Nouwen in conversation” and a Microsoft Access reference book.    The death poems were written by Zen monks  and Haiku poets on the verge of death.  Ive posted a sample in the WORDS section of my blog.

I’ve used Jack Daniel’s book extensively to guide my training and as far as training books go, it is in a league all its own.  I gave my copy to Nelson Njeru, a 2:10 Kenyan marathoner who gave a boost to the  George Brown College cross-country team when he began some studies there and signed up to run for them! Nelson, I should mention is now in his forties.

Questions about what my new workplace will be like percolate.  Will I be able to muster up a team for the Bay Street Rat Race or Corporate Challenge ?  Will the golf course across the street have a driving range I can go to at lunch?  I am an ultra- novice golfer but I do find it fun.

As for farewells, I was given a gorgeous floral arrangement and taken out for a delicious lunch by two colleagues.  We called it the tri-level lunch (inside work joke) and caucused a little on big picture work issues.  I made a lot of friends at my workplace and while I look forward to a wonderful new career opportunity I will miss them.  Maybe I’ll be invited back for the holiday party given my status as two-time holiday party committee member.

Many of the “good-byes” involved resolutions by my co-workers to start or stick to a fitness routine.  I seem to have that effect on people  🙂

Adieu, adieu!


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A calorie burned is a calorie earned – for a treat!

I consider myself fortunate that within one block of my house, on opposite corners, stand a YMCA and Starbucks.  Two or three times a week, following my run, I lift upper and lower body weights at the YMCA and then walk across the street to treat myself to what I call the “fatty latty”, a triple-venti-vanilla-whole-milk latte.  Nothing beats the satisfaction of strolling home over that last block, workout done, sipping on my latte.

At most times, I’m not the best role model of healthy eating as I burn a lot of calories daily and am able to afford to spend a few of them on treats.  One of my favourite treats, is pictured here . . .

poutine "the works"

Meal replacment

Yes, poutine is my  junk food of choice.  My mom turned me on to something called “The Works” a New York Fries special, a poutine variant which in addition to the usual fries, gravy and cheese curds has chili, sour cream, bacon bits and green onions.  I know, I know . . . you can feel the heart attack coming on but exercise and low body weight is a great cholesterol regulator.   The poutine pictured here was ordered and quickly consumed by yours truly, very recently at Ann’s Cafe in Richard’s Landing, St. Joseph’s Island which is about 50k east of Sault Ste. Marie.

The weeks when I eat most healthily are the 3 weeks preceding a marathon when I am tapering i.e. reducing my training volume and reducing my body weight by 5-6 pounds to lighten the load for the 26.2 mile marathon trek.

Lattes at the Ezra Pound

Getting back to coffee, my husband and I do try to diversify our coffee intake and recently tried the Ezra Pound on Dupont Street.  In homage to its (mad and fascist) namesake, the EP  has a poetry vending machine dispensing poems for a toonie, a project of Toronto Poetry Vendors (TPV).  There is poetry on this blog at the HEART and WORDS pages.

Poetry

Click on this to read!

poetry

Poetry Vending Machine

poetry

Poem Packet $2.00


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Celebrating 30 Years

This is my 30th year of running.  My first goal was to run a marathon when I turned 30 but I ended up running a marathon a few months later at age 26.  It was my first long-distance race ever!  There were no run clinics back then so I used the 3 month marathon training program published in Runner’s World.

Sunday September 12th is the 30th anniversary of the Terry Fox Run. The Terry Fox Run was the first measured route that I had ever run.  Years later I organized Terry Fox run sites at my son’s school and at our neighbourhood YMCA.

Behemoth

See full size image

Tiny

30 years ago the Sony Walkman which played cassette tapes, first began to appear in North America at high-end electronics stores like Brack Electronics.  One of my brothers worked at Brack Electronics and I was the first kid on the block to own one.

I wonder sometimes if I was the first runner in Toronto to run with a Walkman.  This thing was huge, about 10 times as thick as an IPod, 5 times as wide and 5 times as long.  Imagine the ingenuity required to strap this thing on without the help of special belts and carrying cases.   Now I run with a camera and IPod that together are barely 10% that size.


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Nourishing mind, body and soul

Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded.  Goethe